Explore the most popular walking trails in Clemson Experimental Forest with hand-curated trail maps and driving directions as well as detailed reviews and photos from hikers, campers and nature lovers like you.

Nice little trail for how easy it is to get to, right outside of Clemson. Barely marked at all, as others have noted. I meant to hike the Issaqueena trail, but ended up hiking on Collarbone, to Lawrence, before eventually ending up at an intersection with Issaqueena. Ended up at the top of the lake, and hiked down the eastern side to the dam, then walked back on E Dam Road, a dirt/gravel road that lead to the parking area. The lake was very pretty, saw a deer swimming and lots of turtles sunning. Pretty low traffic for a friday afternoon, saw one mountain biker, a horseback rider, and one person walking their dog. Trails were mostly single track, but very easy walking and essentially no elevation change. I would classify this hike as more easy than moderate. Will explore the trails some more another day, I like how close by it is!

Clockwise from trailhead. Nice hike. Need this app. Trails are barely marked at all. Got turned around twice. Nice moderate hike though. Full 1/3 elevated trail around the lake. Water crystal clear. No power boats. Minutes from Clemson. If in the area should definitely check it out. About 2 hours around. 5 ish miles.

Loved it! But...take your phone and this app..markings are very poor and you will get lost. Ran it and it was 5.6 miles per my Garmin watch. Bikers on trail but only a few and were very respectful. whoopwhoop! Go runners!

Little bit longer than 5 miles. First time walking and the signs were a little bit confusing. Glad I had my phone to make sure I was on the right trail because I probably would have been lost. Took me about 2 hours but I stopped to take pictures. Moderate is a good measurement. Hills, flat grounds, great views. Very light foot traffic but I also went early afternoon on a Friday.

Very very very easy. We owned the trail the first hour. We would have had it to ourselves if we got their earlier. We started at 9:20 a.m. we stopped a few times to take in the views. We did the 4.9 mile Dam, Lawrence, Colorbone Trail. Takes about two hours. The last hour was inundated with mountain bikers.

This is a great area to get out and spend some time just walking through the woods. The trails are easily distinguishable although the markings are somewhat difficult at times to keep track of. The only reason we didn't give it a five star rating is because when we got back to the parking lot somebody had attempted to break into our vehicle. They didn't make it in but it still kind of spoiled the day because now we have to have some vehicle repairs done to the door locks. We hadn't left anything of any value in our vehicle so that was no problem there.

This is a very moderate flowing trail that can be challenging with the protruding roots. Alot of fun the lake trail is the most enjoyable and scenic!! The inly downside is if its your first time the trail markings are confusing.

This is a great trail for getting out in the woods. Not too tough as far as elevation goes but the mileage provides for a great morning or afternoon hike. Bikers were very polite and yielded to me being on foot. Didn't see any horses but there was some prints here and there. Nice spots along the lake to hang a hammock.

This is a nice little 5-mile trail that is family friendly and easy to walk (in terms of difficulty). It is a network of trails that can be confusing if you do not know where you are going. I suggest pulling up one of the recorded maps here on AllTrails and navigating with it so you will know where you are at all times until you learn your way around. Otherwise, you really have no way of keeping your bearings once you are inside the network of trails. It's no big deal, though, since you can find your way back out fairly easily. But if you want to walk the "Issaqueena Lake Trail" as it is shown on the map, you had better use that map to navigate by because there is no way to know which trails to take...it is not common sense and the trails are not marked all the way. And the map on the board at the trail head is no help at all. You can walk on the road down to the dam if that is all you are there to see...it's about a mile and a half. If you take the Dam Rd. Trail, it's a little over two miles.
If I were simply rating the view of the lake and dam, I would definitely give this trail 4 stars. But the fact is, this is a confusing and hard to follow trail - nearly impossible without navigation or trial and error effort - and the map at the trail head does not match the actual trail information inside the trail network. The trails are named (most of them), so you could learn them easily enough, but for someone coming out for the first few times, they are a frustrating jumble of intertwining paths that are hard to piece together and know what you will get. Still, I like this place a lot and I have already been out several times. I am already learning my way around and I can definitely see the charm that is Issaqueena. I would recommend these trails, for sure.